Sacred Heart beats Masters, advances to FAA semifinals

Tom Forde

Updated 11:02 pm, Wednesday, February 20, 2013

As the defending FAA champions, the Convent of the Sacred Heart basketball team had high hopes coming into this season but found itself struggling to regain the magic which brought its first FAA tournament crown in 23 years. Their roller coaster season was punctuated by a one point loss to Masters in what was the regular season finale on the Tigers' home court.

The loss had CSH coach Sean Green and his squad shaking their heads in disbelief, but as fate would have it the Tigers got a second shot at Masters, as they hosted the Panthers in the quarterfinals of the FAA tournament. The reigning champs would not squander their chance at redemption, as they dominated in the paint and caught fire from the perimeter en route to notching a 51-37 victory to advance to the semifinals on Friday.

"The last time we faced Masters I think we came out complacent and it showed on the court," Green said. "We were in a lull then and everything that could go wrong for us did go wrong. After that all we did in practice was shoot, shoot, and shoot some more."

The Tigers' practice paid big dividends as they rode the hot hand of sophomore Claire O'Neill's two first half three pointers and the inside post game of fellow sophomore Emily O'Sullivan to a 10-point halftime advantage.

"Getting Emily (O'Sullivan) involved in the post was what we had great success with last season," Green said. "Today we went back to that and her presence in the paint really opened up shots for our perimeter shooters."

In the second half Scared Heart continued to utilize that inside-out approach on offense and as the Masters defense was forced to double down on O'Sullivan, Claire O'Neill and her junior co-captain sister Colleen made the Panthers pay with sharp shooting from the outside. The Tiger trio combined for 42 of the team's 51 points with O'Sullivan and Claire O'Neill sharing game-high honors with 15 points each while Colleen O'Neill added 12 points.

"We definitely came into this game with more intensity, especially on the defensive side of the ball," said O'Sullivan, who also posted 12 rebounds on the day. "Knowing what happened the last time we faced Masters motivated us tonight. We played a strong first half and we approached the second half as if it were 0-0."

That defensive intensity which O'Sullivan spoke of was evident in the box score as the Tigers kept Masters' star point guard Naya Williams to 11 total points and only three second half points after the Panthers floor general burned Sacred Heart for 19 points in the regular season finale. The Tigers now move one step closer to retaining their crown and will face the winner of the Rye Country Day School and St. Luke's quarterfinal. And no matter who they face Scared Heart will enter with the confidence and cohesion they've been seeking all season long.

"This season started a little rough but we're really coming together at the right time in the playoffs," Claire O'Neill said. "We're communicating and playing as one out on the court which is crucial to winning basketball. Granted, we have our sights set on the title but we also understand that we need to focus on our next opponent and the next game at hand if we want to attain that ultimate goal."